Zion Williamson sweeps ... with special Nike shoes

The beast returned: great match against Syracuse (29 points). Nike made him a personalized model of the Kyrie 4 after his controversial injury.

A days after the Madness of March, in full conference tournaments (32 fixed places in the final bracket in play), returned Zion Williamson. After the tremendous shock of his knee injury in the great regional duel against North Carolina, after the controversy with Nike because his shoe literally exploded, after he questioned his presence in the tournament and some recommended not to play to preserve what will be a No. 1 sung of the draft, he came back. And with him Duke returned (pírrico 3-2 in his absence): 84-72 to Syracuse Jim Boeheim (without his top scorer, Tyus Battle, separated by a back injury). Ticket to semifinals and another generational duel against North Carolina in the semifinals of an ACC that has for the first time three of the five best in the country is this fight for the Conference: Virginia, North Carolina and Duke ...

North Carolina, who won Louisville (80-73) will look for his first 3-0 at Duke since 1976. But this time it will be Williamson, who made it clear that he would play as soon as he could and that he was not going to leave his teammates hanging just when the highlight of the season arrives . And, judging by the thunderous of his return, Duke returns to go for all: 29 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals. A bad 2/9 in free throws ... but an incredible 13/13 in field shots. 21 points with 4 dunks already in the first part and the first game of at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals in the ACC tournament since 1992. In physical fullness, Zion charged optimism to Duke, to those who doubted the knee condition ... and the NBA teams that look with boldness to the draft, clear.

Syracuse (28 points from Frank Howard) endured in the game, but in the final minutes Duke always had the win safely despite the low marksmanship of the rest of his hard core: 1/7 in trebles of the Tre Jones base (15 points, 8 assists), 2/6 of Cam Reddish (7 points) and 2/7 of aspirant to 2 (or 3 at most , maybe 4 in the worst scenario) of the draft, the Canadian RJ Barrett, who finished with 23 points and 6 rebounds.

But it was Zion's night, of course, that looms now as a gigantic threat over the excellent North Carolina, which it works better as a block ... but it does not have a generational player like him, which also closed for now controversy with Nike. The Oregon brand sent emissaries to Durham, took action and made a Kyrie's 4 (from Irving, the previous ones that were the model of Paul George) tailored to the almost 130 kilos of an absolutely special player, totally unique. Of course, and judging by this exhibition in his return against the Syracuse Orange, the new shoes work ...